Action Research Results

Last night, I compiled my results from my Mini Action Research project that focused on vocabulary instruction.  I paired direct instruction with exploratory learning to engage students in the process of recognizing, understanding, and using vocabulary words correctly.


I was very happy with the results that I got!  Although I will share more specifics at our conference this weekend, I was pleased that my vocabulary test given using the new strategies raised 25% from the test given using the old strategies. 


I have noticed students being "word detectives" with these bigger words- picking out letter sounds or letter combinations that they know.  They recognize the words out of my direct questioning and pick them out of any sentences that I say.  It has been really fun!


This makes me motivated to do the large action research project. Although, now, I know I will have an even harder time choosing what I want to focus on!  Ideas I have thought about are best practice strategies for struggling readers, examining gender differences, classroom management, etc.  Ahh!!

Meaningful Victory

My meaningful victory this year is focused on one particular student.  I am sure that I am not alone in having that one student who you consider to be your "project," your one student that you are determined to help grow.  Of course, I want all of my students to grow.  But it is this one student who I am extremely concerned about and want to do everything I can to see her improve.


This student is new to our school this year.  She has a significant speech and language disorder and was tested with articulation that is at a level of less than a two year old.  She was tested in her old school for a learning disability, but her scores were not low enough to receive services.  However, they were giving her 185 minutes of speech and language services per week, which included services that were surely not speech and language-related.  Our special education department has done an excellent job of giving me all of the help that I can get, but she does not receive any support during our classroom math, reading, or social studies/science times.  It is very difficult for me to give her the support she needs, when I have 18 other students who also need my help and attention.


I have a two page list of interventions I have already attempted.  She is not motivated and overall, just not a very happy kid. :(  I have a feeling that she has already internalized a "learned helplessness" because of continued frustration and failure.  It breaks my heart every single day to see how frustrated she is with her academics.  Not only this, but her ability to communicate with her peers and other adults is limited because of her struggle with articulation and expression.


My plan to achieve my meaningful victory is really just the next steps that I will take to help this student.  I understand that with all trial is the possibility of error, but I am determined to find that one trick or combination of tricks that increases her motivation and helps her grow!  I am hoping that my knowledge of speech and language disorders will also increase so that I can help students in the future, as well.

Idea Number One: I will introduce a play group into my classroom that will take place on every “Day 3” in our six-day rotation.  In order to  increase her communication, I will have her be the leader of the play group, choosing 3 students at a time off of our class list, so she has the chance to interact with all students in the class.

            Skills to be improved:

·         Leadership skills among peers

·         Friendship skills such as cooperation, sharing, participation, and helping others

·         Communication skills in a small group setting, hopefully to be transferred into a large group setting once a higher level of comfort is obtained

·         Ability to form new friendships

Idea Number Two: I will learn and teach simple sign language words, including help, stop, bathroom, feeling words, and also one to two sight words per week to help understand her oral reading.

           

Skills to be improved:

·         With simple sign language words, it will be easier for this student to communicate her needs to myself and the various other teachers she works with.  Most adults, even after several tries, can not understand what this student needs.   By teaching a different type of communication, my hope is that we will know the general idea of the problem so that she can feel more comfortable at school.

·         While she gets help in reading from several sources, it is very difficult to know whether or not she is reading the correct word.  Not only will this help in communication, it may also help her to pair a symbol with a word to help in long-term memory of first grade sight words.

Idea Number Three:  I am going to further increase differentiation for this student.  It is obvious that she is frustrated with a lot of the work that we do, so I am going to build more on the skills she does know and slowly start to close the gap.  For example, we do a Daily Math sheet that focuses on problems formatted similarly to those on standardized tests.  In place of this, I would like this student to work on simple number sentences.  Also, seat work that other students work on when they come to school, such as spelling sheets or word puzzles, are very difficult for this student. I will make her a folder of sheets that focus on handwriting and simple words.

Skills to be improved:

·         My hope is that these very simplified skills will help this student to grow.  At this point, she is not able to individually complete any of the first grade tasks successfully. 

·         If she starts to be more successful in these other activities, her effort and confidence may increase, as well as her overall feelings about school.

Idea Number Four: In our Daily Five work, I will allow this student to use a Leap Frog Reader for “Read to Self” one day out of the week.  I think she will benefit from listening to reading and being interactive with the books.  I do not want this to take the place of reading, but I think it will be a beneficial supplement. 

            Skills to be improved:

·         Ability to track words

·         Overall book sense

·         The combination of seeing and hearing first grade words may put more words into her vocabulary bank.

While these may seem like obvious interventions or strategies, I have a long list of others that I have already done.  Each student is so unique and you never know what one thing or combination of things will be the most beneficial!


If anyone has any other suggestions, I would be eager to hear them!

Thanksgiving Break

Ahhh...Thanksgiving Break!  As much as I enjoy my class this year, it is always nice to have a break.  I am taking this break to ponder things I want to try and change before Christmas break.


With our new reading series, it has been difficult to set up the Daily Five routines in the way I would have liked.  Our series, LEAD 21, had students rotating in guided reading groups the first week of the program!  Students didn't feel comfortable with me, with each other, and they definitely didn't feel comfortable with routines in our room at that point.  Now, at the end of November, I feel confident in my class's ability to work together and to really be working on their reading during small group time.  


Up until now, I have been telling groups where to rotate and they have been rotating only with their same-level peers.  On Monday, I am going to begin letting them actually participate in the Daily Five, where they make their own choices of: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, Listen to Reading, and Writing.  I am excited to get this going, and I know they are too!






On another note...
I have begun to think back to last year and how chaotic our classroom was when we came back from Christmas break.  I can not believe how quickly this year has flown by and how close we are to that already!  I wonder if, besides model model model, there are any tips to decrease the craziness!  The next few weeks will be full of concert practice, parties, and interrupted schedules.  Remember to breathe. :)  And to enjoy every moment! 

Feelings Surveys

I can not believe that it is almost the end of November!  Time flies!

Two weeks ago, we had parent/teacher conferences.  Not surprisingly, I was very nervous!  For some, it is the first time we are meeting, and we all know that we don't always have sunshines and rainbows to report. :)  I did have something new to add to my folder this year, though, that my parents reacted very positively to.

For my PDP, I am focusing on the social curriculum.  Each week, I give students a feelings survey, where they can circle a sad face, middle face, or happy face for the following areas: classroom, friends, playground, bus, and home.  I put together graphs for each student, showing the results of the First Quarter Feelings surveys.  I conducted interviews to explain any negative feelings and so that I could pinpoint the problem areas of my classroom.  

Parents were pleasantly surprised to not only have data regarding test scores, but also about how their young child felt about different areas of school.  

I feel better knowing that I have a better understanding of how my students feel while they are at school.  It is easy to forget, sometimes, that they are only six and seven years old, and that what we might consider irrelevant issues, might be affecting their well-being on a daily basis.

Mini Action Research

Question: How can I provide authentic learning through vocabulary instruction?

Research Window: Between November 8^th and November 24th, every morning between 9:45 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

Situation-At-Hand: Our reading program, LEAD 21, provides about 5-6 vocabulary words per unit.  The Teacher’s Manuals offer daily verbal instruction, but it does not go much deeper than that.  After completing Unit 2, I do not feel that my current instructional strategies are providing my students with genuine learning experiences in which they would necessarily feel comfortable using the word outside of direct questioning.  I am wondering what the best-practice strategies are for vocabulary instruction and ways to implement them in a first-grade classroom.

My Plan: I will use the Five-Step Process for Teaching Vocabulary from the resource A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works in order to provide best-practice strategies for vocabulary instruction.  This process involves both teacher and student effort in understanding.

Five Step Process

1.    Provide students with a short description or definition

a.   My Plan: Show students the new word and give the definition from the manual.

2.  Present students with a nonlinguistic representation

a.   My Plan: Show students a picture example.

3.  Ask students to generate their own explanation

a.   My Plan: Students participate in think-pair-share to come up with their own definitions.

4.  Ask students to create their own nonlinguistic representation

a.   My Plan: On Day 1, students will draw a picture of what the vocabulary word means to them.  On Day 2, students will get with partners or small groups to come up with a visual using their bodies and props around the room.  I will allow them to use my camera to take a picture of their understanding.  Days 3-4, students will share their pictures with other groups.

5.  Periodically review understanding

a.   My Plan: Activities listed above will be carried out using a visual organizer. These visual organizers will be kept in students’ book boxes, which are used daily, to be looked at during Read to Self or Read to Someone times.

Method Description:

·       Student Samples: Using the five-step process for teaching vocabulary from A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works, I will provide student work samples that display the steps they are responsible for.

·       Journaling: I will journal frequently about changes I am seeing due to the new process for teaching vocabulary.

·       Documents: Since we are beginning Unit #3 at the beginning of my data collection period, I will go back and give a short assessment of vocabulary words from Unit #2.  I will give a similar assessment to display whether or not there was increased learning with the use of new strategies.

Becoming Your Own Teacher

     I was recently talking with a colleague of mine about our Learning Community.  She made an interesting comment that really spoke to me.  She was explaining that, similar to me, she only had a few years under her belt of teaching before she went to get her Master's Degree.  During her first few years, she felt as though she was being tugged at from different directions about what was best practice for working with elementary school children.  She explained that it was only after getting her Master's that she felt she had become her "own teacher."  
     I think that anyone can relate to this in one way or another.  There are so many things that I want to improve upon as a teacher.  Of course, it is helpful to go to a colleague for suggestions or ideas.  The difficult part is that, while their particular idea may work wonders for them, it is not always true that it will work for everyone, due to differences in teaching styles, values, and classroom morale.  
     Our Learning Community allows me to see points of view and ideas that are outside of my everyday conversations within my school.  I am also excited to choose something for my action research project that really intrigues me and is going to improve my practice.  
     I absolutely adore my grade-level team that I work with.  I feel very fortunate to have the co-workers that I do, in that we do not come across conflict very often.  I believe that this is due to each of our abilities to understand and appreciate our differences and our willingness to share support and ideas.  I know that continuing with this Learning Community program will help me to become an equal player in this team as I become my "own teacher" and can share more ideas than I currently do!

The Power of Questions: List of "happenings" in the classroom

After completing the first three chapters in The Power of Questions, I kept a journal of the "happenings" in the classroom that bothered me, that interested me, and those that excited me.

Events that Bothered Me

• A student with a significant speech and language disorder continues to struggle with simple directions, social situations, and most academic information, even after several attempts at various intervention strategies.  How can I really and truly help this student when her test scores are not quite low enough to qualify her for further special education services?
• I am struggling with finding time to meet with each of my guided reading groups daily and would like to create a schedule so that my lower-level reading groups are getting the time that they need to make progress.
• I have been working daily on implementing the Daily Five pieces for use in guided reading.  When we practice these pieces as a class, everything goes smoothly.  However, when we break into guided reading groups, I notice a significant number of behaviors occurring.  How can I enhance independence without interrupting each behavior?
• When analyzing the weekly student surveys I give regarding feelings about certain parts of the school day, I notice a pattern of very low feelings happening on the bus.  I question how I can help to improve these feelings when I am not there.

Events that Interest Me

• I notice that my lower readers are able to get 100% consistently on their spelling tests and am wondering how I can transfer these skills to reading and writing.
• I have a Chinese ELL student who is very advanced academically.  However, she lacks the skills necessary for problem-solving academically when she does not know an answer, and also in social situations with other students.  I am wondering if and how I can take a step backwards to help her gain these skills.   

Events that Excite Me

• I notice a particular group of students really trying hard to help others all the time, but not for recognition, just because they want to!
• Our new reading series allows for all students to have a voice, as we are all reading books about the same topic. I have been impressed by the connections that students have made with each other and also connections with background experiences that they have had.  I wonder how I can help other students make connections who have less extensive background knowledge.
• We practice handwriting through the introduction of our spelling words, and I've noticed that some students have really improved even just after a few times.  I question how I can help other students transfer these skills with a lack of time in our schedule to spend more time on handwriting.

**Please find my specific questions about these "happenings" underneath the applicable strands.**

Six Hats

White Hat: sharing the facts and figures
Red Hat: expressing feeling and emotion

When completing the reading for this month about the white and red hats, I will admit that I was a bit skeptical about the usage of this method.  I wondered how effective it would be if members of a meeting were constantly saying, "Put on your red hat," or "Let's use our white hat thinking."  However, when I applied it to my own problem, it started to become more clear.

The problem I chose to address with a coworker for our assignment is one that I feel very passionately about.  Unfortunately, I feel that I play the role of the "Pleaser" that Randy Fujishin discusses in Creating Effective Groups: The Art of Small Group Communication.  In most cases, I would rather avoid conflict at any cost than really fight for my own opinion.  Overall, I have never been very opinionated, but I know that learning to communicate my needs and opinions effectively would impact my life very positively.  When I worked through this difficult situation with a coworker using both my white and red hat, I realized that when using them together, I could communicate this problem without being totally confrontational.

I think that reading about each of the last four hats more in depth will help me to become a more effective communicator.  Sometimes problem solving is prevented due to lack of skills in interaction and/or processing. However, I think that the way in which the hats are used and the order in which they are presented could really help with organizing problem-solving methods.

Thus far, I have really only reflected on how I can use the hats to overcome my own problems, or how I can use them in my classroom to help the class come up with a solution to a problem.  With more information on the other hats, I hope to be reflect more on how they can be used in large group discussions, such as grade-level or staff meetings.

Reflection is at the Heart of Practice...

How will reflection help you to become a master teacher?  What gets in your way of reflecting?  What will you do to clear the barriers or get around them?

When I began the Master’s Program, my mentor asked me the ways in which I thought this experience  would help me to become a better educator.  My mind was swarming with all of the ways I knew it would benefit my everyday practice.  After taking a moment to ponder, I responded that I knew this program would help me to reflect in an organized manner that really focused on several significant facets of education.  I find it so easy to get wrapped up in either one way of thinking or one area of reflection.  Having the opportunity to reflect amongst a group of educators from various areas of expertise and various districts will help to me broaden my areas and methods of reflection, which I think is an essential factor in growing as a professional.

Being a second year teacher, I consider myself to be very “moldable.”  I have not yet encountered enough experiences to really have a set-in-stone method of practice.  Change is still somewhat easy for me, as I have not done any one thing for an extended period of time.  I find it extremely valuable to be able to interact with my colleagues in this learning community while we reflect together about some pressing issues in education today.  Reading opinions and experiences brings about additional issues to consider, additional factors to guide my own reflection and increase my knowledge.  To me, becoming a Master Teacher means becoming a more confident teacher and leader to benefit my students, colleagues, and myself, and reflection will be a critical tool in doing so.

As I mentioned before, I think it is so easy to get stuck in one “zone” of reflection, making it more difficult to think outside of the box.  I also think that TIME is a barrier when it comes to reflecting.  Having a solid chunk of time to really sit down and reflect through an entire situation has been difficult for me, although the times I actually did do this have proven to be more successful than doing something on the fly.  The article we read will certainly give me a more organized method of reflection, where if I don’t have the time to reflect all the way through in one sitting, I will at least be able to come back and know where I left off and what I have yet to think about.  I am a visual learner, so having this layout will definitely be beneficial.